Yesterday I was at Yelagiri hills with my colleagues/friends from Indian Institute of Science. Yelagiri is a hill station in the Vellore district of Tamil Nadu, India. Punganoor artificial lake-cum-park at Yelagiri was of special interest to the group and so was our first destination.
The lake had boating (peddling and rowing) facility. It was 50 per person and we bought 19 tickets. While most among us chose peddling, me and two others opted rowing. We wore our life jackets and stepped into the boat. Each rowing boat had a guy who would take us one round through the lake. It was only when we started; I noticed that the person rowing the boat was a young boy. He was sitting in the center facing me.
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| Ramachandran (boy in the center). Why is he not wearing a life jacket? |
Somehow I felt like speaking to him and so struck up a conversation in Tamil (Tamizh). It went on like this –
Me: So, what’s your name?
Boy: Ramachandran, Sir.
Me: Age?
Boy: Seventeen
Me: So, you don’t go to school?
Boy: Yes, I do.
Me: Are you saying you work here only on Sundays?
Boy: Yes Sir.
Me: Hmm.. so which class?
Boy: 11th Sir.
Me: how much did you score in 10th?
Boy: No reply...
Me: Did you pass in all the subjects?! (Looking into his eyes)
Boy: Yes, in three attempts :-(
Me: humph! What do your parents do?
Boy: They work as Coolies.
Me: Brothers and Sisters, how many, what do they do?
Boy: They also work.
(By then I understood that he was not ready to open up too much, which was sort of expected as I was a stranger. But I dint want to stop. He was still rowing and we were half way through.)
Me: Hmmm, so how much do they pay you?
Boy: 150 Rs per day.
Me: Who owns the boat? Private or Government?
Boy: Private only Sir. Government puts out to tender.
Me: How many rounds do you make a day?
Boy: 25 to 26.. I work from 10 in the morning to 6 in the evening.
(I did some mental calculation- 25 rounds each with say 4 people and 50 per person would make an income of Rs 5000 for the owner. No fuel cost, nothing. And they are paying him only 150 :( )
Me: So don’t you get tired? Isn’t it difficult?
Boy: Yes, I sleep once I go home.
Me: Hmm... So you should study paa, else it will be difficult, score good marks in future, how long will you work like this?
Boy: No reply :(
(I understood it is time to stop asking such questions and giving him suggestions and changed the topic.)
Me: My name is Varun, from Pallakad which is near Coimbatore.
(I always assume that all tamilians know where Coimbatore is!)
Me: Hey, you watch movies, which one did you see last? Did you see Ezham Arivu?
(Surya is the hero, so I expected him to have watched it!)
Boy: Yes, I did.. Theatre is far, I went to Tirupattur..
Me: So, liked the movie, heroine?
Boy: :D
(We almost reached the bank from where we started. So I stopped. I guess we were on boat for about 12-15 minutes.)
As soon as I stepped out of the boat I took some money from pocket: three notes of Rs 20 each. Gave it to him with a smiling face and said “Thank You”. He took it happily and said “Thank You, Sir”. The next group of tourists were already getting into the boat and he was all set to take them.
We spent some more time in Yelagiri and left there by 6 PM in the Swaraj Mazda (a mini bus) which we had hired from Bangalore. I was sitting in the last row with a guy on my left and about 5 or 6 bags on my right. I was still contemplating about him, Ramachandran. I started thinking how I spent Sundays when I was 17 or 18 years old- “I used to get up late, had idly-vada-chutney-sambar for breakfast, kept aside two vadas from my share for lunch because I loved eating them once they were not crispy. Then left for tuitions (on my Activa Honda) in the afternoon which went on till 9:45 in the night with a break in between during which I used to have coffee with my friend, Arjun. After tuitions I would come home, have dinner and sleep. I never thought about a part-time job or earning money.”
All the while, my friends were laughing, shouting and screaming their heads off in the bus :-). I could hear these words - “Awesome Akhila, Multi-talented Manasa, Beautiful Brinda, ..”..... hmmm... I fell asleep.
